Transcription by Rev.com my cost: $12.00 and about 1.5 hours of my time.
In progress…
Scott Ryfun:
Yeah.
Sen Mike Hodges
… not out of the swamp and, you know, we don’t wanna, we don’t wanna hurt most people either, so, so I think there’s, there’s a solution. I think it’s gonna require a lot of work between a lot of different individuals and organizations and I’ve already started, and there are a number of folks in, in the Senate and the House that feel the same way.
And I’ll tell you one good thing about the political pressure from the population at large about the swamp is that it, it brings, it puts the question on the table, it, it, it, it brings people to the table to try to solve it before, um, the legislature just steps up and says, “Look, this is the way we’re gonna do it.”
Scott Ryfun:
Yeah. Give, give, gives, uh, the unelected people a chance to do something first, that’s true.
Sen Mike Hodges
Well, ih- ih- yeah.
Scott Ryfun:
Yeah. Uh, the, eh- the, the us, we, us guys on the street, basically.
—>Um, as far as your term in office so far, wh- were you, were you surprised at how big an issue in the last year illegal immigration has become?
Sen Mike Hodges
Yes and no. Um-
Scott Ryfun:
(laughs) Okay.
Sen Mike Hodges
… I’m, I’m, I mean, well, um, I’ve always, I mean, you know, we’ve only, we’ve got finite resources-
Scott Ryfun:
Yeah.
Sen Mike Hodges
… in the State of Georgia, we got finite resources in the country and, you know, we’ve gotta take care of our folks. Um, wh- what I’ve been surprised at is the vehemence and the, the vehemence of, of, of, um, some folks and the, um, the charges, if you will, of, um, bad behavior by a lotta people in the business community, um, and, um, you know, I’m, I’m there every day. Uh, I’m, I’m in the legislature every day. I’m part of discussions of bills and I never hear anybody say, “Hey, let’s do this this way and we can get free labor.” I mean, I don’t, I don’t hear that. I hear more people saying, “You know”-
Scott Ryfun:
Mm-hmm.
Sen Mike Hodges
… “We need to do something. We need to do something to make illegal aliens less desirable, uh, in tor- Georg- or to make Georgia less desirable for illegal aliens.” I hear a lot more of that than I do, um, um, um, the other side of the argument. So I think there’s, um, I think that there is, um, an effort, you know, to try to, um, to try to deal with that. Um, um, I know that, that it is a single-issue for a number of people.
Scott Ryfun:
Yeah.
Sen Mike Hodges
It is [inaudible 00:03:03] a very important issue but one of a number of important issues for other folks.
Scott Ryfun:
Sure.
Sen Mike Hodges
If that makes sense.
Scott Ryfun:
It does. It does. Um, with regards to your, your time up in Atlanta this year, this session, what are you, what are you happiest about as far as what took place up there and what you’ve helped take place and what are your biggest disappointments out of this session?
Sen Mike Hodges
Well, um, uh, the, this, this past two years I’ve been, um, I’ve been honored to, um, be, uh, one of two Senator leaders for Governor Kemp and I’ve helped pass some legislation of last year and this year, uh, some anti-human trafficking legislation. And, you know, I, I’ve, I’m gonna tell you, I didn’t realize that human trafficking was the problem that it is. You’d think in 2024 we wouldn’t have what amounts to slavery, but we do and, um, I’ve been able to pass two bills, one last year and one this year, to try to help stem human trafficking.
Um, I have, um, sh- I have been able to do some, uh, healthcare legislation, uh, both, um, as the governor’s fore leader, Terry and the governor’s, uh, bills and also, um, some of my own. I’ve gotten, I’m on the Health and Human Services Committee. I’ve gotten involved in, um, with the, um, mental health, um, um, mental healthcare issues and, and, um, and with some issues that I’m familiar with through my service with the hospital, the nursing shortage and healthcare issues. And I’ve been able to pass or get passed legislation that, um, that h- this year, that helps, um, provide more mental healthcare workers and substance abuse counselors and under-served areas of the state. And last year I was able to do the same thing with, um, nursing, uh, t- to help, um, put more nurses, um, out in the economy-
Scott Ryfun:
Yeah.
Sen Mike Hodges
… um, by providing more nurse teachers to get the, the classroom size higher and get the turnout of professional nurses.
But, so, I mean, my, you know, healthcare has been a big deal to me, um, uh, human trafficking, uh, public safety, if you will, has been a big deal. And, um, the, as far as things that we’ve, like this year we didn’t get a couple of things done that I wanted to get done. I, we have a big-time disparity in the way we pay our judges across the, uh, state and, um, I hope that we could-….
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